


The Necklace

by Ganelon8



Category: Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Genre: F/M, Happy Ending, Mariotta loves her husband, Marriage, Presents, Richard has feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:00:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24735790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ganelon8/pseuds/Ganelon8
Summary: Richard wonders if Mariotta had liked getting jewelry as a present. Mariotta had half forgotten.
Relationships: Mariotta Crawford/Richard Crawford
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	The Necklace

**Author's Note:**

> I have been rereading the Lymond Chronicles and they are still so very good, and so detailed! I am very soft for these two, and am a little sad we don't get to see much of them on the page talking after the first book, but having reread the Queen's Play and Disorderly Knights it is definitely implied they get on pretty well. This just made sense as a conversation they might have after the events of the Game of Kings.
> 
> Feedback and comments are always appreciated, hope you enjoy!

“Is jewelry something you would like?” Richard said one night as they lay together. There was a chill breeze coming from under the windowpanes, and warmth from the slowly fading fire in the hearth. But she was warm, tucked up with her husband like this, bed curtains closed to the rest of the world.

Mariotta tilted her face up to look at him. Many people found him hard to read, or impossible, and emotionless. She had thought so, too, at first. But having spent so much time with him, having had him open his heart to her and her trusting him with the same, she could now read the little movements in his face, see the small, incongruously delicate, signs of deep feeling on her husband’s face.

“What a question,” Mariotta said, placing a hand on his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breath. “I should like anything if it came from you.”

There was still that faint line between his dark brows. “I can get you some,” Richard said, voice deep and solemn. “Or, new dresses. Books from wherever you’d like. A new horse.”

Then, suddenly, Mariotta remembered the gifts she had been mysteriously receiving during the first year of their marriage. Expensive pieces of jewelry left without a note for her to find had been only part of the troubles that had been brewing at home for them. She had not seen until later just how differently Richard and his brother Francis had been treated at home. They were both experts, both highly skilled men, but with vastly different talents. By their father, Francis had always been called lacking, and so their mother had taken special care of him. Their mother was the only one left alive, but it was still painfully clear to Mariotta that she had a favorite of the two brothers.

“I had forgotten all about Dandy,” she said quietly. “You know… I had thought that the jewelry was from Francis, as some part of the feud. But…” She bit her lip briefly and looked down to Richard’s chest, rather than meet his gaze. She flushed, and said, even quieter, “I had at first hoped they were from you.”

Richard was also quiet for a moment, and she held her breath. Then, all at once, Mariotta felt the strong arms of her husband encircle her, pulling her close to his warm embrace.

“Oh, Mariotta, I have been such a fool,” Richard said, voice thick with feeling.

“So have I,” she said, feeling a warm prick of tears.

“Only because I was a fool first,” he said, and she had to laugh a little. Mariotta felt as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I shall surprise you with something then. I had… I have never thought I could be so happy as I am with you.”

“And I am happy with you, my love,” Mariotta said, and she kissed Richard. His arms were still around her, and it was easy enough to slide a hand between them. She knew well enough by now that a gentle touch was what made her husband come undone, and she was pleased to kiss him through it all. He took care of her afterwards, shifting himself farther down the bed and lifting the bottom of her nightdress and demonstrating just how well he had learned what she liked.

“If we have another baby,” Mariotta said, eyes closed, feeling sleeping beginning to draw over her, “We shall love them just as much as we love Kevin. And they shall be best of friends.”

It was dark and her eyes were closed, but she felt Richard stiffen a little, and she heard a sniff from him a few moments later. She didn’t move, and lay quiet as she felt him reach up to his own face. “I would love that.”

***

A week later, Mariotta sat with Sybilla who had the baby on her lap. Mariotta was working on some embroidery, and Richard had gone out to oversee a new building project. 

Her mother-in-law looked up suddenly from Kevin, and said, “My dear, I have been meaning to ask, but is that a new necklace you are wearing?”

Mariotta smiled, and raised a hand to it. “Oh, yes, it is.”

“It is a lovely piece,” Sybilla said, and from the gleam in her eye, Mariotta suspected she might have known who had given it to her.

That made Mariotta blush. “It is my favorite.”


End file.
